Happy Endings
by WinterSky101
Summary: After waiting as long as they have, Jem and Tessa deserve their happy ending. Jem/Tessa.


**A little Jem/Tessa tag to the epilogue of City of Heavenly Fire, because those darlings deserve nothing but the best.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own TMI.**

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Although they didn't walk over to the car together, Jem and Tessa reached it at the same time. "Shall we?" Jem asked, holding Tessa's door open for her. Tessa smiled.

"Yes, we shall," she replied, sliding into the driver's seat. Jem went around into the passenger's seat.

"Meow."

"Jem, what was that?" Tessa asked, frowning slightly. Jem blushed slightly.

"What do you mean?" he asked, stubbornly feigning ignorance as he buckled his seat belt. Tessa arched an eyebrow.

"Did something in the backseat just _meow_?"

"No," Jem replied quickly. Tessa turned and looked in the back of the car.

"Jem!" she cried. Jem blushed immediately. "Did you steal their cat?"

"It's Church!" Jem protested. "He was our cat first!"

" _Jem_ ," Tessa groaned. "After all they did for us - for the _world_ \- you repay them by stealing their cat?"

"You heard what Clary said," Jem argued. "Church doesn't like any of them. He likes me. Do you want to leave him in a place where he doesn't like anyone?"

"But _they_ clearly like _him_!" Tessa countered. "We can't just go around stealing people's cats."

"Tessa!" As if to add credence to Jem's argument, Church leapt from the backseat into Jem's lap, where he proceeded to curl up in a ball, purring as Jem petted him. "Please, Tessa?"

"Jem…" Tessa sighed. She missed Church as well, remembering fondly all the times that he and Jem had spent together. During the long years she had spent alone, she had visited Magnus and Church quite a few times before Church had gone to the New York Institute. After that, it had become a lot more difficult; Tessa couldn't exactly stroll into the Institute and request to see their immortal cat. She would make do with Magnus and his cats, although they were never quite the same.

"Please, Tessa." There was something vulnerable and pleading in Jem's voice. With Church curled up in his lap, Jem looked so much like the young man she'd first fallen in love with, despite the modern clothes and the mostly-dark hair. "We've lost so much already. Must we lose our cat as well?"

"Church was always your cat more than anyone else's," Tessa replied despite herself. "Does it really matter to you so very much?"

"I've missed him," Jem admitted, sounding very young. Tessa sighed, very aware that she wasn't going to be able to refuse Jem this, despite the fact that he really ought to give Church back to the Lightwoods. Clary _had_ said that Church didn't like anyone, and while that didn't make it okay from Jem to steal him, it weakened Tessa's resolve quite significantly.

"You're a year older than I," Tessa sighed, but she turned the car on as she said it. Jem's face lit up as he realized he'd won. Tessa suddenly knew she'd done the right thing; there wasn't much she wouldn't do to make Jem look that happy. "Why is it that I must be the responsible one?"

"I've been responsible all my life," Jem countered. He looked younger than Tessa had ever see him, his eyes sparkling with mischief. "I want to be reckless and impulsive for once."

"By stealing cats?" Tessa asked, arching an eyebrow. Jem shrugged.

"Among other things," he replied, continuing to pet Church. Tessa stifled a giggle.

"You look like a villain in a bad movie," she told him. Jem frowned slightly.

"I've never watched a movie," he admitted. "There wasn't any opportunity in the Silent City." Without hesitation, Tessa made a sharp left turn, throwing Jem into the door and causing Church to yowl. "Tessa, what on earth-"

"We're going to Magnus' apartment," she declared. "I have a key. He and Alec will be at the wedding for hours yet. We are going to watch a movie."

"What sort of movie will we watch?" Jem asked, accepting Tessa's decision without argument.

Tessa smiled softly at him. "One with a happy ending," she replied.

"Like ours?" Jem asked, with a tentatively hopeful look on his face. He had worn a similar look very often since he and Tessa met on the bridge months before. It was as if he thought for some strange reason that someday, Tessa would get up at leave him, despite the fact that Tessa had tried her best to tell him very clearly that it could never happen.

She'd just have to keep telling him, then.

"Yes," Tessa replied, leaning over to put her hand on Jem's. "Just like ours."


End file.
